New Arrival
by HeroxPartnerfan96
Summary: During what seems to be a quiet day, the zoo receives a new animal: an otter named Marlene. The lemurs are the first to catch her eye upon her arrival, especially a certain aye-aye.
1. A Quiet Day?

**New Arrival**

 **Chapter 1: A Quiet Day?**

It seemed to be another day in the Central Park Zoo; with the exception of the recent arrival of the lemurs consisting of King Julien, Queen Julia, Maurice and Mort, having been transported to the zoo from the tropical island of Madagascar just a few weeks earlier, it seemed as though there hadn't been much going on between the regular hours that the zoo was open, while the lemurs were still taking the time to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings. For them, their arrival into New York felt as though they had stepped into a completely different world, and that meant there were so many new sights and devices for them to get accustomed to. Not the easiest task in the world when the only contact you've had with the rest of the world is with four animals from New York, two chimpanzees with one knowing sign language and the other being able to read said sign language, and four commando penguins who felt like they belong in the army more than living in a zoo located in the heart of NYC. Then again, what kind of army would accept penguins as recruits?

A pretty confused or messed-up one that had no idea how to run its recruitment list, that much was certain.

But regardless of the change of territory they were in, the lemurs were doing the best they could to manage in this new world they were now in. Though, as how it usually came for them, some days were better than others. At the moment, Maurice and Julia were watching as Julien was trying to deal with Mort as the small mouse lemur had decided to hug his feet for the third time this morning. _'This has to be some kind of record…'_ Maurice thought to himself, showing a smile of amusement at the sight of the display in front of him. However, it seemed that the others around him didn't find the situation as amusing as he did, since Julia was showing an expression of worry while Julien showed a glare at the mouse lemur for this ongoing attempt to suck up to him, with very little success.

"Mort, how many times do I have to explain this to you? Off the royal feet!" Julien groaned, rapidly shaking his leg in an attempt to get Mort to let go. However, it seemed that the mouse lemur had a tight grip on his leg this time around, since his rapid flailing wasn't having any effect. So with this in mind, Julien placed his other foot on top of Mort's head before kicking it forward, causing Mort to let go of his feet and send him flying up into the air, while Julia was barely able to duck her head as Mort was sent flying over her.

"Wheee!" Mort cheered, a big smile on his face as he was seemingly unaware of the fact that he was now flying through the air like a small paper aircraft before disappearing from the view of the lemur habitat and landing on the concrete just outside the habitat. As the other lemurs watched in silence, a few moments passed before Mort's voice suddenly rang out. "I'm okay!" This call was quickly followed up by a childish giggle, their signal that Mort wasn't hurt from that impact. Julien then let out a sigh of relief that Mort was no longer trying to grab onto his legs before he started to make his way over to relax in one of the nearby lawn chairs while Julia and Maurice watched before following after him.

"Ah… that's much better." Julien sighed before making himself comfortable in the lawn chair, stretching his arms out for a few moments before resting them against his stomach. He then turned his glance up to see Julia walking over to lie down in the lawn chair that sat just alongside his, before she turned her head to him and he showed a bright smile before addressing her. "Don't you just love days like this, Julia? Where there's nothing to do and it gives you plenty of time to relax and think about things you can make others do for you?" Julien asked. Julia showed a smile of amusement as she let out a content sigh and turned her head up to look at the morning sky, noticing the sun shining brightly over their heads, and nodded.

"You're not wrong there, Julien. It is pretty peaceful." Julia agreed. She then turned her glance down to think for a few moments, with the smile quickly disappearing from her face while she did so, before she turned her head in Julien, turning herself around so she was resting on her side against the lawn chair. "But… there is something that bothers me quite a bit about that." Julien turned his head to his mate with an expression of surprise, wondering what she meant by this. "I mean, it's only been a few days since we had to deal with that whole fiasco involving the camera and Maurice going missing. Since then, it just feels like…" Julia let out a quiet sigh before she finished. "There isn't much to do around here."

Julien stared in silence for a few moments before he quickly showed a big smile and shook his head in response. "Oh, nonsense! How could anyone not love being in a place like this, with all kinds of new neighbours to meet and have fun with? Besides, you don't need to remind me about Maurice being trapped inside that thing. I still remember how the Sky Spirits released him. Isn't that right, Maurice?" Julien asked, turning his head to Maurice during this last question. Maurice simply shook his head while letting a quiet sigh of exasperation to himself, since he knew exactly what Julien was talking about.

Much like how Julia was describing it, it had been a few days since a camera had landed into the lemurs' habitat, during which Maurice had gone missing after Julien inadvertently caused its flash to go off. The resulting trip for Maurice included landing in one of the garbage bins, taking a ride in the back of a garbage truck towards a waste dump in New Jersey, being found by the penguins that night, taking a spin in a stolen tyre, being chased through the subway by a high-speed train, catching a bus towards the zoo and finally, being slung back into the lemur habitat with a make-shift slingshot. Maurice had attempted to explain to Julien what really happened to him afterwards, but it always usually fell on deaf ears. If there was any proof to be seen that his attempts at explaining the situation were still falling on deaf ears, it was no clearer than here.

"Your Majesty, I've gone over this with you at least a few times. I was never trapped in there! I just ended up in New Jersey and had to find my way back here with the penguins' help." Maurice explained. He then turned his glance to the side as he muttered in a voice quiet enough so Julien wouldn't hear him. "As much as I didn't want it…" He was then met with the expected result as Julien let out a laugh before sitting up in his lawn chair, making his big grin visible.

"Say what you like, but we both know the truth. After all, wouldn't that have to be like, on the other side of town? Who even goes that far around here?" Julien asked, leaning forward and placing an arm around Maurice while the latter stared at him in surprise. Maurice could only let out a groan of dismay, seeing that his attempts at getting through to Julien clearly weren't having any success. If there were two things Maurice could say in confidence Julien certainly had, they were a thick skull and a seeming lack of awareness of what was being told to him. Just then, the group of three were met with a surprise when they could suddenly hear the sound of a truck just outside the zoo, prompting Julien and Maurice to turn their heads to see where it was coming from while Julia sat up in her lawn chair from surprise upon hearing the truck as well.

"What's that?" Julia asked, climbing out of her lawn chair while Julien did the same thing as he rushed over to the edge of the area that held not only the lawn chairs, but also Julien and Julia's thrones and the boom box which was usually located right beside them, while Maurice followed just behind the two to see what was going on. As the group of three watched, with Mort having just arrived back after his flight out of the lemur habitat courtesy of Julien, they could see Zookeeper Alice open the back of the truck before grabbing a small crate out and making her way over to an empty habitat that had an opening leading into a small cave as well as a slide carved into the side of the opening and a pool by the side. From where they were, the lemurs were busy watching all of this on.

"Hmm… what could be happening here? What does that lady Alice have in her hands that's so special?" Julien wondered, raising an eyebrow in curiosity as he had one finger placed under his chin, while Mort had just climbed up to where he and the others were standing, something that Julien turned his head to notice. "Mort! Stop fooling around and have a look at this." Julien stated, pointing over to where Alice was standing as she had just arrived at the empty habitat and was now placing the crate down to open it up. As Mort turned around to see what was happening, Maurice turned his head up to Julien as he was starting to figure it out.

"It looks like the zoo finally has an arrival for that empty otter habitat." Maurice commented. As Julien showed an expression of surprise at this statement, Julia was watching in silence for a few moments before she showed a bright smile as it was starting to make sense.

"Oh, that's right! The habitat's been there for a while since we arrived, but I guess they've been waiting for the animal in question. Nice to see they're finally here. And they're near us too!" Julia eagerly commented, clasping her hands together with a smile of excitement while Julien turned his head to her while she was speaking. As Mort was listening to this, an eager smile crossed his face before he raised his arm up in the air.

"Oooh, I like new neighbours!" Mort cheered. He was quickly silenced though as Julien raised his foot up to kick him aside, before he turned his head up to think about what to do with this new arrival into the zoo.

"So we have a new face in our midst. Just the kind of change we've been waiting for since we arrived!" Julien said, with a bright smile showing on his face at the thought of having a new face to join the dancefloor alongside him and the others. However, this smile was replaced with a contemplative expression as he crossed his arms and turned his glance upwards to think. "But… how will we know what they'll be like?"

"We could go meet them and find out for ourselves." Maurice suggested. However, this suggestion was quickly met with deaf ears as Julien showed a hand in his direction to shush him up, to which Maurice showed an expression of annoyance; he had a feeling that this would happen when he had something to say most of the time.

"Quiet, Maurice! Your king is thinking here." Julien replied. Maurice let out a groan of annoyance at this statement, while Julien started to tap the side of his head with one finger as he was trying to figure out what they should do, before a big grin showed on his face as something seemed to be suddenly clicking in his head. "Yes! I've got it! We'll go over to their habitat so that way we can meet this new face and find out what they're like for ourselves!" Julien stated. After a few moments of silence passed, the rest of the lemurs seemed to agree with them as they all showed matching bright smiles.

"That's a great idea!" Julia happily agreed. "Yay! We're going to get a new friend!" Mort cheered as he started to bounce up and down from excitement that they were going to go meet the new otter that had just arrived in the zoo, while Julia turned her head to watch him and let out a giggle at his eagerness to welcome the new arrival.

"We sure are, Mort. Isn't that exciting?" Julia asked, bending down to pick Mort up and hold her in his arms while he let out a childlike giggle. At the same time, Maurice showed a big smile and nodded in agreement with Julien's idea; even though he was the one who came up with it in the first place, he considered it a wise idea just to play along so he wouldn't end up upsetting his king by mistake. "Great idea, Your Majesty! How do you come up with them?" he asked.

"I don't know, Maurice. Somehow they just come to me like a strike of lightning to my brain!" Julien replied, giving a shrug in response. As Maurice showed a smile of amusement and shook his head slightly at this analogy, Julien spun around and pointed in the direction of the otter habitat. "Now then… come, everyone. We must go meet this new face at once!" Julien stated. Without a moment to spare, he leapt off the concrete flooring and started to run over to the wall of the habitat before climbing over it so he could start making his way over to the otter habitat. The other lemurs watched him on before Julia spoke up, prompting Maurice and Mort to turn their heads over to her.

"Right behind you!" Julia replied, before rushing over to the edge of the concrete flooring and hopping off to catch up with Julien.

"Wait up, Your Majesties!" Maurice called, running over to the edge before jumping off so he could catch up with the two royal lemurs before they went too far ahead.

"Oh, are we playing Jump? This is fun! My turn!" Mort cheered. Without a moment to spare, he hopped over to the edge before jumping off to run over to the wall before slamming headfirst into it and dropping onto the ground. Fortunately, he was quick to recover as he sat up and rapidly shook his head. "Ouchie!" Mort blurted. He then jumped up on his feet and quickly scampered up the wall before jumping off to arrive on the other side and start chasing after the others as they were making their way over to the otter habitat to find out just the new face in the zoo could be.


	2. Marlene's Welcome

**New Arrival**

 **Chapter 2: Marlene's Welcome**

Meanwhile, over at the Otter Habitat, the new face in question was just starting to settle into their new home since they had just arrived. The otter had dark brown fur along with a white patch on her chest and bottom half of her face, and she had deep brown colouring on her paws with a white mark along the top of her right foot, and she also had light yellow eyes with an amber iris and judging from the eyelashes, it was evident to see that she was female. Since she had stepped inside, she was taking the time to survey her new home. After she had a few minutes to take in her new surroundings, she showed a bright smile. "Well, this place doesn't look too bad. I mean, it's not exactly as big as the aquarium, but I guess I could make this place work. And that means it's time to start doing some setting up." The otter commented, placing her paws together as she was ready to start setting this new home up to her liking. As she was starting to look around to see where she could start, she was unaware of the fact that she had four new visitors already; the lemurs had arrived and they were poking their heads inside to see who was there. After a few moments of scanning the inside of the small cave, Julien's eyes very quickly fell on the otter standing inside as she was turning her attention to her bedding area and as he had a closer look, he felt his eyes grow wide in amazement and he let out a laugh of excitement. While that was happening, the others were waiting to hear from Julien as he was taking a look inside.

"Well? Who can you see in there, Your Highness?" Maurice asked, having his arms crossed as he and the others were wondering what was going on. After a few more moments passed, Julien turned his head to face the others with a big grin on his face.

"Oooh… you are never going to believe just who has moved in there. This is even better than I was expecting it to be!" Julien exclaimed, clapping his paws together in excitement while the others stared at him in surprise as they were waiting to know who it was.

"Really? Who's in there?" Julia asked. Julien simply pointed inside, indicating that he wanted the others to find out for themselves. So with this, the group of four poked their heads inside to notice the otter inside as she was busy setting up some pillows for herself. "Wow… this is the new face? What kind of otter do you think they are?" Julia wondered, showing an expression of surprise upon seeing her. Julien quickly felt his grin grow bigger as he turned his glance to Julia.

"Who is caring about that? The best part is that… this otter's a girl!" Julien commented. The others quickly showed matching expressions of surprise at this statement; as far as they knew, the only female in the zoo was Julia herself. So needless to say, this was coming as quite the surprise to them. "I know! Even I didn't believe it! But it's true; we have yet another female in our presence!" Julien exclaimed. Julia simply raised an eyebrow in his direction, since she didn't seem to understand why he was so excited about this arrival being a female.

While that was happening, Maurice turned his head to look at the new otter while Mort was showing a smile of eagerness. "Oh, she's so pretty!" Mort happily commented. As Maurice turned his glance to Mort upon hearing his statement, he was met with a surprise as the otter turned around to the front and he quickly felt an expression of amazement show on his face; now that she was facing the right direction, he could catch every detail about her. Her lovely brown and white fur, the eager smile on her face as she was excited to set up this new home to her liking and her lovely amber eyes… they seemed to shine brightly in the sunlight. Maurice could only stare in amazement before he felt a big smile slowly cross his face.

"I… I think that's an understatement, Mort…" Maurice was only able to say as he continued to watch the otter with that big grin on his face. Just then, the female otter showed an expression of surprise as she started to get the feeling that someone was watching her and she started to walk over to the entrance to find out for herself. The lemurs nearly jumped from shock upon realising that they had been spotted, before they quickly ducked to lean against the wall and watch as the otter stepped outside, looking around in confusion.

"Hello? Anyone there?" she asked. The lemurs simply watched, doing their best to remain silent and make sure they wouldn't get spotted. Luckily for them, the otter started to scratch her head in confusion. "That's strange. I could have sworn there was someone here…" After a few seconds passed, she then shook her head. "Nah. I must have just been imagining it. Well, guess I should get back to sorting things out." So with this, she turned around to walk back inside the cave while the lemurs watched her before letting out sighs of relief.

"Thank the Sky Spirits… that was way too close…" Julien breathed, placing a hand on his chest and showing a small smile of relief that they weren't spotted. Julia then turned her head to him with an expression of puzzlement as something didn't make sense to her.

"Wait. What are we doing hiding? I thought we were going to go meet her." Julia commented. As Julien removed his hand from his chest and turned his head to Julia in surprise while she was talking, he slowly shook his head with a sigh of dismay.

"I don't think you're getting the point here, Julia. We have to make sure we go about this the right way, otherwise we'll freak her out. And do you want that to happen on her first day here? I do not think so." Julien stated, pointing at Julia while she took a step back from surprise at this sudden outburst from him. Maurice turned his head to the two as he was listening to them before walking over.

"You know, I think Queen Julia's right. We don't need to hide while doing this. Let's just go in there and say hello. I'm sure she won't mind having four new faces to meet after her arrival." Maurice agreed. Mort seemed to agree with him on this, as he hopped over before stopping just in front of Maurice.

"I want to meet the pretty otter too!" Mort added. The others could only stare in surprise at Mort for a few moments, wondering what he was going on about, before Julien let out a sigh as he lowered his head.

"All right, if you all say so. But let me do the talking first; I'm like the master at this sort of thing." Julien replied. The others simply nodded in agreement with this idea; that seemed to be fair to them. So with this in mind, the four started to make their way over to the entrance of the opening so they could step inside and greet the otter.

While that was happening, the otter in question had just finished setting up her bedding area with a few pillows set up for herself. "There we are. Now I'll be nice and comfortable during the night! Next up, I think it's time to start setting up a few flower vases and help give this place a bit of colour." The otter commented to herself, turning her head to look around at how barren the rest of the room seemed to be. However, as she was starting to think about what kind of flowers she could use, she suddenly heard a voice from behind her.

"Greetings, lovely otter! Welcome to our humble home!"

The otter nearly jumped from surprise at the sound of that voice and she slowly turned around to see the source: standing there behind her were Julien, Julia, Maurice and Mort, with Julien having been the one to give the greeting. "Gah!" The otter stumbled backwards from fright upon seeing the four, leaving her to drop on the floor on her back. As she was struggling to catch her breath from that sudden shock, Julia turned her head to Julien in annoyance.

"I told you that was going a little too far." Julia said. Julien turned his glance to Julia in alarm before crossing his arms.

"No, you did not! I didn't hear you say a word about me going too far with my welcome." Julien retorted. Maurice simply shook his head at the two before he showed a comforting smile and walked over to the otter while she was lying on her back, starting at the four in shock.

"Sorry about that. We didn't mean to scare you." Maurice simply said. As the otter stared up at him in silence, she could see the big smile he was showing her before she managed to regain her composure and stood upright before turning her head to the four, showing a small smile in response. "You okay?" Maurice then asked, just wanting to make sure she didn't hurt herself too bad from that fall, which was quickly answered when the otter gave a nod.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I just wasn't expecting any visitors so soon." The otter replied. As Maurice showed a smile of relief at this reply, the otter ran her paws against her fur to dust herself off before she turned her attention to the four lemurs. "Now that we have that out of the way… who are you guys?" she asked, pointing to the four. Julien immediately showed a big grin as he was ready for this.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know? Since you happen to be so curious, I'll tell you." Julien replied. He then cleared his throat while the other lemurs turned their heads to him before he continued. "I am King Julien, ruler of Madagascar and new arrival in the concrete jungle of New York! Whatever that last part means." Julien announced. As the otter simply stared at him in bewilderment, Julia let out a sigh as she slowly shook her head before turning to her.

"Don't mind Julien. He has kind of a thing for big entrances." Julia explained. She then showed a bright smile as she was ready to introduce herself. "Anyway, it's really nice to meet you. My name's Queen Julia, but you can just call me Julia. I don't really like to let my title do the talking." Julia added. The otter showed a smile in response before she nodded in understanding.

"Well, it's nice to meet you two. I'm Marlene. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that you and Julien are mates?" she asked, pointing to Julien and Julia as she was asking that question. As Julia nodded in confirmation, Julien let out a gasp of amazement before turning his head to Julia while she looked over at him.

"Yes! That's amazing! How does she know that?" Julien gasped. As Julia showed a smile of amusement at her mate's excitement, Marlene gave a blank stare before crossing her arms.

"I'm pretty sure the fact that you have the titles 'King' and 'Queen gave that away for me." Marlene replied. While Julien was simply staring in amazement at the fact that Marlene could recognise the relations between him and Julia, Maurice was quick to speak up.

"Well, it's great to meet you, Marlene. My name's Maurice." Maurice said. As he was finishing up with his introduction, Mort quickly popped up and rushed over to Marlene while the aye-aye watched in shock before jumping up into her arms while she stared in surprise.

"I'm Mort! And you're pretty." Mort commented, letting out an innocent giggle. Marlene stared in silence for a few moments before she showed a nervous smile and bent down to place Mort back on the ground.

"Uh… thanks, Mort." Marlene nervously replied. As Mort rushed back over to the small group of lemurs, Marlene turned her head up to them. "Well then, since you guys are here to welcome me to the zoo, I was wondering if maybe you could give me a bit of help with setting up with this bed." Marlene suggested. Julia quickly showed an eager smile at this suggestion, but as Julien was about to give his objections to this idea, Maurice stopped him as he gave his reply.

"Of course! What can we help you with, Marlene?" Maurice asked, a big grin showing on his face to show his eagerness to help her out. Marlene quickly showed a grateful smile that the lemurs would help her before she turned around to look around the rest of the cave.

"Well… I was thinking about maybe setting up some potted flowers around here and help give this place a bit of colour. I was going to go see what kind of flowers I could use to decorate this place, and wanted to know if one of you guys could help." Marlene explained. As the group of four were hearing her out, Julien turned his head to Julia as he currently had his arms crossed from annoyance.

"I don't remember agreeing to help her with home decorations. We have other more important things to do." Julien commented. Julia turned her glance to him in surprise at this statement before she showed an expression of annoyance and placed her hands on her hips.

"Julien, be nice! Marlene's new here and the reason we came to see her was so we could give her a proper welcome, remember? So the very least we can do is give her a hand with setting this place up to her liking." Julia whispered in response. As Julien let out a sigh of exasperation at this reply, he did know that Julia had a point with that; after all, he was the one who suggested that they should come meet Marlene in the first place, so there was no way they could refuse helping her out. So with this, he turned his glance up to think for a few moments before a bright smile came to his face.

"I think I have an idea." Julien stated. As Julia showed a smile of eagerness at this statement, Julien then turned his head to Maurice. "Maurice, could you help Marlene find some flowers for her home decorations?" he asked. Maurice quickly stared in amazement for a few moments before he showed a big grin and nodded in agreement.

"You got it, Your Majesty!" Maurice happily replied. So without a moment to spare, he turned his head to Marlene. "Marlene, maybe I could help you with finding the flowers you want for your place, if it's okay with you." Maurice suggested.

Marlene stared in surprise for a few moments before she showed a grateful smile that Maurice would be willing to help her out. "Really? Thanks, Maurice. Come on, let's get going!" Marlene happily replied, before reaching over to Maurice's hand and drag him along with her. However, as the two were about to leave, Marlene stopped in her tracks before turning her head to the others. "Wait… what are you guys gonna do while Maurice and I are out?" she asked.

The other lemurs were silent for a few seconds, since they hadn't really thought about what they were going to do while Maurice and Marlene were busy. Fortunately, Julia was quick to give a reply. "Oh! Um… we were going to see if we could help with setting up some snacks for you, in case you ever got hungry." Julia explained. Once Marlene heard this, the smile returned to her face and she nodded.

"Oh, thanks. That'd be great! We'll be back soon!" Marlene replied. So with this, Maurice and Marlene turned around to make their way off towards the gate of the zoo while Julien, Julia and Mort watched them leave.

"Okay! We'll have this place set up in no time!" Julia replied, waving as the pair were on their way out. "Make sure you don't run into the penguins on your way out! They're bad news!" Julien added. Once Maurice and Marlene had disappeared, Julien and Julia turned to each other with Mort watching them in silence.

"Well then! While they're busy there, what say we get to work with those snacks?" Julia suggested. Julien then showed an expression of puzzlement as there was something they were really overlooking. "Uh… just one question. How do we know what otters eat?" he asked. Julia turned her glance upwards and placed one hand underneath her chin to think it over.

"Hmm… that's a good question. From what I learnt about otters from reading the zoo brochure, I do know that they really like fish." Julia replied. Julien quickly showed a bright smile in response as it was clear to him what they had to do.

"So it's settled then." Julien stated. With this, he turned around and bent down to Mort. "Mort! Go over to visit the penguins and see if they have any fish to give to our new otter friend." he said. Mort quickly showed a bright smile and nodded in understanding.

"Okay!" So without a moment to spare, Mort started to speed off out of the cave to find where the Penguins' HQ was located while Julien and Julia watched him leave. Once he was gone, Julia turned her head to Julien.

"Well, now it's just the two of us. What are we going to do?" Julia asked. Julien felt his smile grow in eagerness before he wrapped an arm and pulled her closer to him while she was briefly left in shock before turning her eyes up to see his big smile.

"As for us, Julia, we're going to make this place a real home and then afterwards, we'll give our new otter friend the true welcome she deserves. And you know what that means, right?" Julien asked. As Julia simply stared in silence as she seemed to recognise where this was going, Julien grabbed her hand in his before rapidly spinning her in a circle. "That's right! Party time! We're going to throw a dance party to welcome Marlene to Central Park Zoo!" Julien happily replied, before letting out a laugh of excitement as he pulled on Julia's hand to stop her spinning before catching her in his other arm. As Julia looked up at him seeing his eagerness for this welcome party, she let out a quiet sigh of dismay.

"Why do I have the feeling that this won't end well?" Julia quietly asked to herself. Now she was really starting to hope that Maurice and Marlene would be back sooner rather than later.


	3. Making A Home

**New Arrival**

 **Chapter 3: Making A Home**

At the same time, Maurice and Marlene were beginning their trek towards the entrance gate of the zoo so they could start looking for some nice flowers Marlene could use to decorate her new home. As the two were walking side by side, Maurice turned his head to Marlene and showed a bright smile; since it was just the two of them, he figured that maybe this could be a good chance for them to start getting to know more about each other. "So… Marlene?" he asked, deciding that it was up to him to break the silence between them.

"Yeah? What's up?" Marlene asked in response, turning her head to Maurice as she wanted to know what he had on his mind that he wanted to ask her. Silence filled the air for a few moments before he continued.

"I know this is your first day here in the zoo, but I was wondering… where did you used to live before you were transported here?" Maurice asked. Marlene quickly showed a bright smile in response as she was looking forward to sharing this story with him, since he looked as though he was eager to know more about him, and she considered that a good thing.

"Oh, that's a fun story in itself. I actually came from the Monterey Bay Aquarium all the way in California. If you're wondering how far that is from here, I'd say you're looking at a distance of…" Marlene started tapping a finger against her chin as she was trying to figure out how far the distance between New York and California was, before she was able to work it out in her head. "Two thousand, four hundred and forty-one miles. And as for how long it would take you to get here, if we're going by taking a plane there, you would probably get there in over four hours."

Maurice felt his eyes go wide in disbelief after hearing all of that before he showed a smile of amusement in response. "Woah… that would be a long ride there. I know King Julien would start getting frustrated after about one hour. Waiting tends to drive him crazy." Maurice commented. Marlene felt a big grin cross her face before she started to burst into laughter, with Maurice watching her for a few moments before he joined in as well; just the image of him and the others being stuck on a long plane ride, with Julien losing his patience as he was getting frustrated with all the waiting, somehow just made the thought of doing it all the more entertaining. "I know… but that's just how he is by nature. He likes having things get done right away." Maurice added as he started to calm down. Marlene seemed to do the same thing as she took a breath after her good laugh over that scenario before letting out a sigh, her indicator that she was starting to calm down.

"I wouldn't blame him, though. A long plane trip like that would drive nearly anyone crazy." Marlene commented. This comment was enough to get Maurice to start chuckling again for a few moments before he stopped, with the two having finally calmed down after that little laugh they shared. "What about you, Maurice? Where did you and the other lemurs come from?" Marlene then asked, as she was ready to know about just where the lemurs were originally from, just as Maurice had been willing to do the same thing for her.

"We used to live on this island called Madagascar, and King Julien and Queen Julia were actually the ones who ruled over there. You would not believe how amazing it was there; it was a fair distance away from the rest of the world. And by that, I mean very far away. But it was still amazing during all the time we've been there, which was basically our whole lives!" Maurice explained. As Marlene showed a smile of awe while she was listening to this description, the smile quickly faded from Maurice's face much to her surprise and it became replaced with a solemn expression as Maurice turned his head away and crossed his arms slightly. "Suddenly when just thinking about it, leaving doesn't seem like a great idea anymore…" Maurice quietly added, looking down in dismay as he was starting to think about how much he and the other lemurs left behind in their decision to leave Madagascar and see the rest of the world. Marlene watched in surprise for a few moments before she showed an expression of concern.

"Oh… I'm sorry, Maurice. I didn't mean to bring up any memories." Marlene worriedly explained, starting to feel worried that she might have upset Maurice by asking him about his homeland. However, this didn't seem to be the case as Maurice turned his glance to her and shook his head with a smile of understanding, showing that he wasn't upset with her for asking about it.

"Nah, don't worry about it. To be honest, it's only been a few weeks since we arrived here in the zoo, so we're still pretty new to being here ourselves. So we're still having a bit of time to get familiar with everything around us. And for us, I doubt one day's ever going to get boring for the four of us!" Maurice explained, a big smile returning to his face as he was talking, showing how bringing up how he and the others were still new to being out in the heart of New York City was helping him feel a lot better after reminiscing about Madagascar. Marlene felt a smile show on her face as well before she let out a chuckle, raising a paw against her mouth to try and stifle it, but evidently failing. After a few seconds, though, she managed to calm down before turning her attention back to Maurice while he was waiting for her to calm down.

"I guess that means we're going to get used to living in this new zoo together, huh?" Marlene asked. Maurice felt his smile grow at the sound of this suggestion and he simply nodded in agreement.

"That sounds like a plan to me." Maurice agreed. There was silence between the two for a few moments as they simply kept their glances on each other with matching bright smiles, seemingly how well they were getting to know each other considering that they had only met not very long ago in the slightest. Needless to say, this was something that they didn't expect, but at the same time, they were both so glad it was happening and that they could help each other feel at home in this unfamiliar land they were now in. After a few more moments of silence passed, Maurice finally spoke up. "So… what do you say we keep going to help you find those flowers?"

Marlene showed an expression of surprise at this statement before she realised that they had nearly forgotten about that during their talk, since it was the reason they were out here in the first place. She then showed a bright smile before nodding in agreement. "Sounds great." So with this in mind, the two started to continue their walk towards the zoo's front gate. As the pair were walking, Marlene turned her glance to Maurice as there was something she had just remembered. "How do you think Julien and Julia are going with setting the place up?" she asked.

Maurice quickly felt an expression of uneasiness cross his face as that was something he had nearly forgotten about as well. "Well… if I know King Julien well enough, he's probably going to get too carried away with making it his own thing and doing whatever he wants. That's what he tends to do when he's left to his own devices." he replied. As Marlene showed an expression of alarm at this reply, Maurice then showed a reassuring smile as he remembered that they hadn't completely left Julien to his own devices; he still had Julia to keep him from getting too carried away. "But I'm sure Queen Julia is making sure he stays under control. So I think there should be nothing to worry about." Maurice then added. Marlene then showed a smile of relief once she heard this additional statement; it seemed like everything was under control for now.

Unfortunately, back at the Otter Habitat, this was proving to be anything but the case. With the royal lemurs in question, Julia had just finished bringing another box of supplies into the cave and was placing it down on the floor in front of her while Julien was waiting with a smile of excitement as he was looking forward to all the new improvements they were going to make to this place. As Julia sat down to catch her breath after having to carry that box all the way from the Lemur Habitat to here, she turned her head up to Julien. "I… I just have one question, Julien. Why… do we need all of these… supplies again?" Julia asked, her question coming out in small gasps as she was trying to get her breath back. Julien turned his head to her with a big smile since he was really looking forward to this.

"Isn't the answer obvious? We are going to make this place a real home for Marlene and help her feel welcome here. And that means we'll need as many wonderful decorations as possible!" Julien stated. So without a moment to spare, he reached into one of the boxes to start searching for what kind of things they could include while Julia stood up and walked over to him, rubbing her arm with an expression of uncertainty showing on her face.

"I don't know, Julien… I don't think Marlene will really like having this many decorations scattered around her place. Maybe we should keep things simple." Julia suggested. As Julien was still rummaging through the box, he lifted his head up in shock at her suggestion before climbing out with a disco ball in his hands.

"If by 'simple', you mean boring, then I don't think so!" Julien replied, raising his fingers and moving them in an air quotes motion as he said the word 'simple' with a sarcastic tone in his voice, clearly showing just how he wasn't paying attention to what Julia was saying. The big smile he had been showed earlier returned to his face as he continued. "This is a housewarming, isn't it? So that means that we need to make this place a real home and impress Marlene. And what could be more impressive than having our own personal touch?" He then held up the disco ball he had been carrying in his arms and showed it to Julia while she stared in surprise.

"Now, if you're done with the criticising, help me find a step-ladder so we can set this beauty up!" Julien then stated. As he turned and started to have a look through the boxes to see if they could find a step-ladder to reach the ceiling and hang up the disco ball, Julia let out a quiet sigh of dismay as she placed a hand on the side of her head.

"I hope Maurice and Marlene are having better luck than we are…" Julia commented to herself. At the rate she and Julien were going, she already had a feeling their attempt at decorating the cave were going to end badly. Just then, the two suddenly heard the sound of a high-pitched voice coming from the cave's entrance, with Julien climbing out of the box he had been searching through with a small ladder in hand.

"King Julien! Queen Julia!" Julien and Julia both turned their heads to notice that it was Mort, standing in front of the entrance of the cave and carrying a few fish in his arms. "I'm back with the fish you wanted!" As he ran over to where the two were, Julia showed a bright smile while Julien, deciding it best to ignore Mort for the time being, started to place the ladder down on the ground in front of him so he could start climbing it and set up the disco ball on the ceiling.

"That's great, Mort! Did the penguins give you any trouble when you got there?" Julia asked. Mort turned his head up to think it over for a few moments before shaking his head in response. Upon seeing this small response, Julia showed a smile of relief. "Well, that's good to hear. I can't imagine how they'd react if they found out we were sneaking through their food supply again." Julia commented, turning her glance upwards with an expression of dismay as she was all too familiar with how poorly the penguins took to having her and the others lemurs go through their things. Mort then had a look around to notice that there were two animals missing, before he looked back at Julia with an expression of puzzlement.

"Where did Maurice and the pretty otter go?" he asked. Julia showed a smile of amusement at this question, since she knew that while Mort was there to see Maurice and Marlene head off together, she had a feeling that it wouldn't quite click in his head right away.

"They went off to find some flowers for this place. I'm sure they'll be back soon. Hopefully they're not being held up too much." Julia replied. While she was talking to Mort, Julien was now standing on the top step of the step-ladder and struggling to reach the ceiling so he could hang the disco ball up. However, neither Julia nor Mort seemed to notice this during their talk, as Mort showed an eager smile at her explanation.

"Ooh, I like flowers. They're so pretty! Do you think they'll get some for us too?" Mort asked. Julia let out a giggle at this innocent question before she nodded in agreement, while Julien was still busy with trying to reach the ceiling to hang up the disco ball, but it was proving to be a little trickier than he was expecting as he was starting to stumble back and forth a little.

"I hope so. I'll bet our habitat would look a little nicer if we could add some flowers in the mix. Oh, I'd love it!" Julia replied, showing an eager smile at the thought of being able to have some flowers scattered throughout the Lemur Habitat. Just as she had finished saying that, Julien lost his balance on the step-ladder and let out a cry of alarm as he lost his grip on the disco ball and dropped onto the floor, with the disco ball following right behind him and landing on top of him. At the sound of the disco ball dropping onto something followed up by a loud groan, Julia and Mort nearly jumped before the former turned around in surprise.

"What was that?" Julia asked. However, she was quickly met with her answer once she turned around and she let out a gasp of shock at the sight: Julien was lying on the floor with the disco ball on top of him; it was clear to see that his attempt to hang it up was unsuccessful. "Julien!" Julia cried. Without a moment to spare, she rushed over to her mate's side while Mort followed behind her, dropping the fish he had been holding in his arms, before bending down to roll the disco ball off Julien. "Are you okay?" Julia worriedly asked, showing an expression of worry over the possibility of Julien having been seriously injured from that impact. There was silence for a few moments as Julien seemed to lie there motionless, before he let out a groan as he raised an arm up to rub the side of his head.

"Oooh… okay… note to self… make sure to have someone hold onto the step-ladder while I'm standing on it…" Julien groaned, slowly shaking his head at his own lack of awareness of what he was doing. Julia showed a smile of relief upon hearing that he wasn't hurt too badly from that fall and having the disco ball land on him, while Mort felt a joyful smile cross his face.

"Hooray! My King Julien isn't hurt!" Mort exclaimed. He and Julia backed up a little as Julien started to sit up with an expression of annoyance showing on his face.

"Of course I'm not hurt, Mort! But the same cannot be said for our disco ball." Julien bluntly replied, pointing behind him to the disco ball lying there on the floor. He then stood up before making his way over to pick it up while Julia and Mort watched him in surprise, before turning around to face the two. "That first attempt didn't go very well, but I will not allow a setback to stop me from hanging this up! I'll need a few hands to make sure I get this right." Julien stated, a determined expression on his face to show just how set he was on getting this disco ball hanging up on the ceiling. He then turned his head to Mort, already having an idea in his head. "Mort! I'll need your hands to hold the ladder."

"Okay!" Mort eagerly replied, a big smile on his face as he was already excited to help Julien with this. As Julia watched the two on, she only had one question in her mind that she wasn't asking out loud: how did the original aim of setting this place up for Marlene suddenly fall so far out of focus? At this rate, it seemed as though she was the only one who was still focused on what they had to do.

Back with Maurice and Marlene, the two had finally arrived at the front gate of the zoo to step out into the park. As the pair looked up at their destination, Maurice let out a sigh of relief. "Whew… I thought we'd never get here." He then turned his head to Marlene with a bright smile as he was ready to get going. "So, Marlene, are you ready to head out to look for those flowers?" As he turned his head to her, the smile quickly faded from his face as he could see that she was staring out at the outside world in uncertainty, a sight that caused him to show an expression of concern. "Marlene? What's wrong?" he asked, wondering what had gotten into her.

As Marlene was starting at the park just outside the zoo gates, she blinked a few times upon realising that Maurice was talking to her, and she turned her head to notice him watching her in concern. "Huh? Oh… sorry about that, Maurice. It's just that… I can't really step outside the zoo. I've had this problem for quite a while now since I was raised in captivity; I haven't been able to step outside zoo boundaries, but I'm not sure why." Marlene nervously explained. Maurice showed an expression of surprise at this reply since he was now wondering why that could be the case, but he figured that it would be best to not let it worry him for the time being, so he showed an understanding smile and shook his head.

"That's not a problem at all. I'll tell you what: how about you wait here for me while I go off on my own to find the flowers? You can tell me what kinds you want so I know what to find." Maurice suggested. Marlene quickly felt the smile return to her face at this idea and she quickly nodded in agreement.

"Really? Thanks, Maurice." Marlene replied. She then turned her glance up to think over what kind of flowers she was looking for, before she looked back at him as he was waiting for her to give a reply. "Well, I was thinking that maybe I could have some red and pink flowers for the place. And I was also thinking about getting a few dandelions as a bit of a decoration. You know, little things like that." Marlene explained. As Maurice was mentally taking note of all of this, he showed a bright smile before nodding in understanding.

"You got it, Marlene! I'll be back with those flowers before you know it." Maurice replied. So without a moment, he started to make his way out of the zoo to head off into the park and start searching for the flowers he was looking for. As Marlene watched him leave, she let out a small sigh before sitting down on the ground and leaning against the wall to make herself comfortable and wait for him.

"Ah… I wasn't expecting my first day here to turn out like this, but this is proving to be quite the unexpected welcome." Marlene said to herself, feeling a smile of amusement show on her face as she was starting to think about everything she had to deal with in the short span of one morning since she arrived, especially with the lemurs coming to see her just as soon as she was starting to make herself at home in her new habitat. As she turned her eyes from side to side, taking in the sight of the entire zoo around her, her gaze fell on the otter habitat just nearby. "I wonder how Julien and Julia have been doing with setting up the place while we've been out…"

Back inside the Otter Habitat, it seemed that things were still proving to be a little out of control. As Julia was keeping herself busy with setting up Marlene's bedding area with a few stuffed sacks as well as putting up a few leaf banners around the walls, Mort was helping Julien with hanging up the disco ball by holding onto the step-ladder so Julien wouldn't fall off this time. As Julien was struggling to reach up to the ceiling, he turned his head down to Mort. "Mort, move this ladder a little to your left!" he called.

"Okay!" Mort replied, nodding in understanding. As he started to push the step-ladder in the assigned direction, Julien tightened his feet's grip on the top step he was standing on so he wouldn't stumble off, before the pushing stopped so he could get back to trying to reach the ceiling. While this was happening, Julia turned her head to notice his struggling before walking over to where he was.

"You know, Julien, I have a feeling that would be a lot easier for you if you tried standing on your tippy-toes. That way you won't end up falling off again." Julia suggested. Julien turned his head to Julia upon hearing this suggestion and showed an expression of annoyance.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?" Julien retorted. He then turned his attention back up to the ceiling and stretched himself up so he was standing on his tip-toes, but it still wasn't having much effect as he couldn't quite reach up to the top of the ceiling. After a few moments of struggling, he let out a sigh of dismay before turning around to face Julia as she was watching him on. "Oh, this is impossible! How am I supposed to hang up this shiny disco ball if I can't reach? These preparations are turning out to be a disaster!" Julien stated, an expression of despair showing on his face as he was starting to realise that his attempts of helping with setting up the home weren't going to well as he hoped they would. He then hopped off the step-ladder, causing it to fall over on its side and crush Mort.

"Ow! I'm okay!" Mort called, his voice muffled from him being trapped under the ladder. However, his call went unheard by Julien as he walked over to Julia with the disco ball in hand while she simply watched as she could see just how upset he was becoming.

"What are we going to do, Julia? We have all of these wondrous decorations in order to help Marlene make this place feel like a home for her, but there's just no place for them! Oh, this is terrible!" Julien cried, letting out a wail before dropping onto the floor, losing his grip on the disco ball in the process. While he was busy with that, Julia picked up the disco ball as it was starting to roll on the floor and placed it back in the box it came from before she turned her head to Julien with a smile on her face as she was starting to have an idea, before walking over and turned her head down to him as he was starting to bury his face in his hands from growing despair.

"Don't worry, Julien. I think I know just the place where we could use all of these." Julia commented. As Julien had his eyes closed, he quickly opened them up again and removed his hands from his face before turning his glance up to Julia to hear what her idea was. "Helping Marlene get this place ready was a good idea on our part, but I have a feeling that maybe there's something else we could do for her to help her feel welcome here. Something like, say…" Julia turned her glance upwards and tapped a finger against her chin for a few moments before she looked back down at Julien. "Throwing a housewarming dance party?"

The mere mention of having a dance party suddenly seemed to perk Julien up, as he was showing a smile of excitement before leaping up on his feet, while Julia watched in shock at his sudden burst of energy. "Yes! That's perfect! Why did I not think of that earlier?" Julien happily exclaimed, clasping his hands together as he was already thinking about how much fun this night was going to be. Julia quickly showed an expression of surprise at this question, since she could remember him mentioning this idea just earlier.

"Well, actually, you did think of that earlier…" Before she could have a chance to continue her statement, she was interrupted as Julien spun around to face her and grabbed hold of her arm.

"What are we waiting for, Julia? We have a lot of preparations to make for this party before Maurice and Marlene get back. Quick, we have to bring these back to our home!" Julien stated. So without a moment to spare, he bent down to pick up one of the boxes full of supplies and rushed off towards the cave entrance to start making his way back to the Lemur Habitat. Julia could only stare in shock for a few moments at his sudden excitement before she finally recovered.

"Julien, wait for me!" Julia called, even though she knew that he had gone too far off ahead to hear her. She then bent down to pick up the other box before making her way off to catch up with him. There was silence in the cave for a few moments before Mort's voice suddenly spoke up once again from under the step-ladder.

"Hello? A little help, please?" Mort called, seemingly unaware of the fact that Julien and Julia had already left the cave.


	4. Party Time!

**New Arrival**

 **Chapter 4: Party Time!**

As Maurice continued his walk away from the entrance gate of the Central Park Zoo, it didn't take very long for him to find himself standing out in the park and he felt a big smile cross his face. "Woah… I had no idea that being outside the zoo looked like this." Maurice commented, turning his head back and forth in amazement to take in the surroundings around him; there seemed to be grassy areas as far as the eye could see and there were several trees with various coloured leaves around the area, with a grand view of the city out in the distance. After a few moments of looking around, Maurice turned his attention to the path in front of him with a nod in confirmation as he remembered the reason he was out here. "Well, I guess I better get to work with finding those flowers." So without a moment to spare, he started to make his way further into the park to start searching for the flowers Marlene had asked him to find.

As he was walking, Maurice turned his head up to notice that there were a few clouds drifting overhead in the early afternoon sky. "I didn't notice how fast time had gone by today… I guess all the excitement of welcoming Marlene to the zoo almost made me completely forget how fast the day was going by." Maurice commented to himself, showing a smile of amusement at how he and the other lemurs didn't seem to notice how quickly the day was passing in their anticipation to give Marlene a proper welcome to the zoo. As he turned his attention back to the path in front of him, he stopped in his tracks when he spotted something up ahead: beside one of the trees was a bush covered with various kinds of flowers. As soon as this caught Maurice's attention, he felt his smile grow in size.

"Look at all those flowers! I bet I'll find just what I'm looking for in no time." With no sign of hesitance on his end, Maurice started to rush over to the bush so he could start searching for himself.

Meanwhile, back inside the zoo, Julien and Julia had arrived back in the lemur habitat with the boxes of supplies they had been carrying. As the two placed the boxes down on the ground in front of them, Julia turned her head to Julien. "So what exactly do you have in mind for this zoowarming party?" Julia asked, as she was starting to wonder what kind of plans Julien had clicking in his head to make this particular party something special for give Marlene the welcome she deserved. As Julien turned his glance to her as she was talking, he showed a smile of excitement before turning around to her.

"Oh, it's very simple. We're going to give this place a complete makeover and make it the best welcoming party we can! After all, what kind of party would this be if it didn't look the best?" Julien eagerly asked in response. Julia could only stare in surprise for a few moments before she showed a smile of amusement as she could tell just how excited he was feeling for this party, and while she wasn't making it all too obvious for him to see, she was looking forward to this as much as he was. She then took a step back in surprise as he leapt into one of the boxes with a laugh of excitement as he was beginning his search for the right decorations. After a few moments, Julien popped his head out of the box with that eager smile visible. "Come on, Julia! What are you waiting for? Help me start looking for the things we'll need to get this place ready for tonight!" he stated.

Julia was silent for a few moments before she showed a big smile and nodded in agreement. "I'm right behind you! I don't think we'll be able to get these decorations set up if I leave you to do all the work, right?" she asked. So with this, she jumped up to climb into the box and join him with the search. However, as the two were rummaging through the box, Julia lifted her head up as the gears in her mind were suddenly starting to turn. "Hold up, Julien! I think I have another idea." Julia stated.

Julien turned his glance to Julia in surprise at this statement before spinning around to face her. "What is it?" he asked. Julia started to tap the side of her head for a few moments to recollect what her idea was before she spoke up.

"While we're busy making this place feel like a real party, we'll need some delicious food to go with it. After all, what's a party without some lovely treats to snack on during the night?" Julia asked. Julien was silent for a few moments at this suggestion before he showed a big grin and clapped his hands together in excitement.

"Of course! How could we have completely forgotten about that? We'll need to prepare a real feast for this night. And luckily for us, I think I know just where to start." Julien stated, giving a wink as he seemed to have a plan on what to make. Without a moment to spare, he hopped out of the box and rushed off to start gathering the right amount of their food supply that they needed. Julia watched in silence before showing a smile of amusement.

"Man, Julien really knows just what to do when push comes to shove. Somehow, things like this help him focus a lot more." Julia said to herself. She then turned her attention back to looking through the box to find appropriate decorations. They had so much to get done and so little time to do it. But as long as they were doing it together, they were certain that they would be able to make this the best welcoming party they had ever thrown.

Back outside in the park, Maurice had been looking through the bushes to find the flowers that he was looking for, and it was safe to say that his search was proving to be a success; at the moment, he now had a small mixed bunch of red and pink flowers in his paws and now he was starting to have a look around to find some dandelions. "Whoo whee! This search is going better than I thought it would. At this rate, I'll have all those flowers found in no time at all!" Maurice eagerly exclaimed, with a big grin on his face at the fact that his search had been going as well as it was; at this rate, he felt certain that he would be back at the zoo before sundown rolled around. He then turned his head up to think, since he remembered that he had kept Marlene waiting for him outside the entrance gate.

"I wonder how Marlene's been doing waiting for me. I hope she hasn't gotten too bored being left there by herself…" Maurice felt an expression of concern show on his face as he was starting to wonder what she had been doing while she was waiting for him. It seemed so strange to him that even though Marlene had only arrived at the zoo today, he had been so eager to spend time with her and help her with feeling welcome into the zoo. Plus, he could still recall just how thrilled he was to see her when he and the others went to meet her; it almost felt as though he had been smitten with her at first sight. As Maurice felt a big grin show on his face with all of these thoughts spiralling around in his mind, he rapidly shook his head to snap himself out of his daze before redirecting his attention back to his goal. "I can worry about all of that later. Right now, I need to get moving and find those dandelions." With this in mind, Maurice started to resume his walk through the park to find the last of the flowers that he was looking for.

However, as he was walking, there was something that was starting to make him think: with the size that the park was, how was he supposed to find the dandelions? He had managed to find the rest of the flowers after some searching, but he was having a feeling that looking for the others wouldn't be as easy. Once this thought came to him, that was when Maurice had an idea. "I guess it couldn't hurt to ask someone for directions." But once this was said, that was when he showed an expression of puzzlement as he seemed to realise something. "But how am I supposed to find anyone to ask in this place? It looks like there's no one around here but me…"

Just then, the sound of crunching stopped Maurice in his tracks and he started to turn his head back and forth in surprise as he was wondering where in the world that sound was coming from. After a few moments passed, Maurice received his answer when he turned his glance up to spot a squirrel sitting up on one of the branches of a tree just nearby and munching on an acorn. The squirrel happened to have a combination of dark brown and cream colours around his fur along with dark brown fur, and seemed to be unaware of the fact that Maurice was currently there. However, his presence didn't go unnoticed by Maurice as the aye-aye was showing a big grin. "Well, I guess that's a good place to start." Maurice commented, before walking to the tree that the squirrel happened to be occupying.

As the squirrel, Fred, was busily munching on his acorn, that was when he happened to hear a voice calling. "Uh, excuse me?" Fred turned his attention up from his acorn and started to look around in surprise. "Hello? Who's there?" Fred asked, turning his head as he was trying to figure out where that voice was coming from.

"Down here." Fred turned his head down to the ground to spot Maurice standing there with the bunch of flowers he had gathered, and he seemed to be waving with a grateful smile on his face. "Hey, sorry to bother you from whatever you were doing. But I was wondering if I could use your help with something." Maurice explained. As he was talking, Fred seemed to have his attention focused on the flowers Maurice was holding in his arms, seemingly not listening to what Maurice had to say. This didn't go unnoticed by the aye-aye, however, as he quickly showed an expression of puzzlement at the squirrel's apparent obliviousness. "Hey, you listening to what I'm saying?"

Fred quickly turned his attention back to Maurice before nodding. "Oh, don't worry. I heard you. I was just looking at those flowers you were holding." Fred replied, pointing down at the flowers. Maurice turned his glance down to them before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, that was what I wanted to ask you about. See, I'm looking for a couple of dandelions to finish these off and I was wondering if you could point me in the direction where I could find some." Maurice explained. There was silence between the two for a few moments as Fred was starting to rub a finger against his chin as he was seemingly thinking while Maurice simply waited for a response. After a few more moments passed, Fred finally spoke up.

"Oh, sure. There are some just over that way." Fred replied, pointing over to the left while Maurice turned his head in the direction the squirrel was pointing in to see where he had to look. Maurice quickly showed a big grin since he now knew exactly where he had to go before turning his head back up to Fred.

"Thanks for the directions!" Maurice eagerly replied. Without a moment to spare, he started to rush off while Fred watched him leave before showing a small smile in response.

"No problem. If you need anything else, I'll just be right here." Fred replied, giving a wave in reply while the aye-aye was already a fair distance away. Once Maurice was gone, Fred bent down to pick up his acorn so he could resume eating. "I wonder who those flowers he had could have been for. Were they for me?" Fred wondered to himself, scratching his head in confusion as soon as he realised that the aye-aye he had just talked to didn't give him any clue about what he was doing. However, he quickly gave a shrug in response. "Nah… he would have said so if that was true." With this said, Fred sat back down on the branch to resume munching on his acorn, which also happened to be his lunch for the day.

Back with Maurice, the aye-aye was already off in the direction Fred had pointed him in and the big smile he had been showing since he got the directions he needed hadn't seemed to fade from his face. "Oh, this is going better than I expected to! At this rate, I'll be back with everything I need before evening arrives." Maurice commented, feeling thrilled beyond belief that his search had been turning out well. After a few more seconds of running in the direction he had been given by the squirrel, Maurice stopped in his tracks when he noticed that just up ahead, there was a small bush with an assortment of flowers on it, including a couple of dandelions. As soon as this caught his eye, Maurice felt his grin quickly grow in size. "Yes! I found them! I've got all the flowers Marlene wanted now!" Maurice cheered. He then started to do a small dance, feeling very pleased with himself for managing to deal with this little search so quickly and so easily. After his little dance was done, he made his way over to the bush to start grabbing the dandelions he had been looking for.

A little later, Maurice was now on his way back towards the entrance gate of the zoo, where he was certain Marlene was waiting for him. As he was walking, Maurice turned his head up to look at the sky and he showed an expression of surprise when he realised that it was starting to turn orange, a sign that evening was slowly approaching. "I guess I was out longer than I was expecting to be…" Maurice then shook his head with a confident smile as he resumed his walk. "Oh well, at least I managed to find all of those flowers and Marlene is probably still waiting for me. Overall, I'd call this a success." As he made his way through the entrance gate, he started to look around to see if he could spot any sign of where the otter could be. "Marlene? Marlene, you there? I'm back." Maurice called. He quickly showed an expression of puzzlement as he was starting to wonder where she could have gone off to.

"That's strange. I'm sure she would have been just here…" Just then, the sound of quiet snoring happened to catch his attention and Maurice turned his head in surprise in the direction it was coming from before he felt a smile show on his face at the sight: there leaning against the brick wall of one of the habitats was Marlene, and she seemed to have herself comfortable for a nap while she had been waiting all that time, if the fact that she had her hands rested against her stomach was any indicator. Upon spotting her, Maurice showed a smile of amusement. "I wouldn't blame her for dozing off. I know I would have done the same thing if I had to wait that long for something…" Maurice cheekily commented to himself, giving a slight eye roll. He then started to make his way over to where Marlene was resting before sitting down beside her, and then he turned his head to her to watch her, taking notice of how comfortable she looked.

"It almost makes me not want to wake her up…" Maurice said to himself, keeping his voice as quiet as possible so he wouldn't wake Marlene up by mistake. However, it seemed that it wasn't much of a success as Marlene's eyes started to flutter open before she sat up and stretched her arms up in the air with a yawn. Maurice quickly showed a big smile upon seeing that she was up, and it didn't take very long for her to direct her attention to the left to spot him sitting right next to her. "Hey, Marlene. Had a nice sleep while I was gone?" Maurice asked, waving to her with a bright smile on his face.

Marlene didn't seem to feel the same way, however, as she felt her eyes quickly shrink in size at Maurice's sudden appearance beside her before she let out a cry of alarm and stumbled backwards while he watched in surprise. However, after she had a few moments to catch her breath and recover that sudden shock, she showed a smile in return. "Oh… hey, Maurice. I was starting to wonder when you'd get back here." Marlene commented, standing up while he followed suit alongside her. She then placed her hands against her hips with an expression of annoyance as she added "Though next time, could you let me know that you're there? You scared me!"

Maurice nearly stepped from surprise at this statement before he showed a nervous expression. "Oh… sorry about that. I just didn't want to wake you up since I saw that you had been asleep." Luckily, this was quickly replaced with a big smile as he continued. "Anyway, I found all the flowers you wanted. See?" He then held up the bunch of flowers he had been carrying for Marlene to see for herself. Marlene stared at the batch in amazement for a few moments before she showed a big smile and grabbed them out of Maurice's arms.

"Wow, look at how many there are here! This will be perfect for my place!" Marlene exclaimed. Maurice stared in surprise for a few moments before he felt a bright smile cross his face; he was feeling happy that Marlene liked the flowers he found. As Marlene turned her head to him, he could clearly the big smile she was showing. "Thanks, Maurice. I really like them. And I can't believe you went through the trouble of getting them by yourself too!"

Maurice felt a shy smile show on his face before he reached up to start rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Oh, it was nothing. I wasn't going to leave you feeling disappointed about not being able to go out and find them, after all." he replied. Marlene started to show a wider smile than before at this reply and she happily nodded in agreement with this comment. Silence filled the air between the two as they simply kept their attention on each other before Maurice suddenly remembered something he had nearly forgotten about. "We should probably head back and find out how King Julien, Queen Julia and Mort have been going with setting up. I'm sure they have to be done by now." Maurice suggested.

Marlene stared in surprise for a few moments before she remembered what Maurice was talking about and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." So with this in mind, the pair started to make their way back towards the Otter Habitat.

Luckily for the two, it didn't take very long for them to arrive back at the entrance of the cave, with evening approaching as the sun was starting to set over the horizon. As the pair stepped towards the entrance, they were met with a surprising sight: there was no sign of Julien, Julia or Mort anywhere. Maurice and Marlene turned their heads to each other in confusion before looking back to the inside of the cave. "Hello? Julien? Julia? Where'd you guys go?" Marlene called as she and Maurice made their way inside to try and figure out just where the royal lemurs could have disappeared to.

"Your Majesties? Mort? Is anyone here?" Maurice added, turning his head from side to side as he was calling. There was silence for a few moments as Maurice and Marlene waited for a response, but there was nothing to be heard. Taking notice of this, Maurice started to scratch his head in confusion. "This makes no sense… Where in the world could they have gone?" he wondered. As he was trying to make sense of what was going on, that was when a voice he didn't expect to hear suddenly rung out from behind him.

"Hello? Can someone please get me out from under here?" At the sound of that voice, Maurice turned around to notice that just nearby lying on the ground was a step-ladder he didn't see before. With Marlene following behind him, Maurice walked over to the step-ladder and lifted it up to reveal Mort; he had been stuck under it for quite some time and waiting for someone to come find him. As Mort was struggling to stand up from having been crushed under that ladder, he looked up to see Maurice and Marlene staring down in disbelief. "Maurice! And the pretty otter! You came back!" Mort cheered, a big smile of joy showing on his face upon seeing them.

"Mort? What were you doing under that ladder?" Marlene asked. "And more importantly, where are King Julien and Queen Julia?" Maurice added, figuring it best to focus on the bigger issue for the time being. At that question, Mort pointed over to the lemur habitat just visible from outside the cave's entrance.

"King Julien and Queen Julia went back to our home so they could start preparing for something. I don't know what it was, but they made it sound like it was really important. And they also left me here while I was trying to help with decorations and I got crushed under this ladder." Mort explained. Maurice let out a groan of exasperation while Marlene turned her glance to spot something and started to walk over to get a closer look.

"I should have known this would happen… I leave King Julien to do something by himself for only a few hours and this happens. He just takes off to do whatever he wants and drags Queen Julia with him!" Maurice snapped; he had a feeling that it would be a bad idea to leave Julien to his own devices, but he still did it anyway. He was then stopped in his little rant when he heard Marlene from behind.

"Hey, it's not a complete loss. The leaf banners are a nice touch." Marlene commented, showing a bright smile at the sight of the little leaf banners that Julia had hung up on the wall. Maurice and Mort made their way to have a closer look and they could see that she was right. As Marlene turned her head down to think for a few moments, she then turned around to face Maurice and Mort. "Well, since Julien and Julia went back to the lemur habitat, I guess maybe we should go find out whatever it is they had planned while we were gone."

Maurice simply nodded in agreement with a firm expression. "Yeah, and when we get there, I'm going to give King Julien a piece of my mind for this stunt. He should know not to leave when helping with setting up someone else's place, especially when he agreed to!" he firmly agreed; judging from that tone in his voice, it was clear that he wasn't going to stand for this latest stunt that Julien just pulled. Almost immediately after this was said, the sound of dance music playing at the lemur habitat reached the three's ears.

 _Hit it! Hey oh, oh, hey oh!_

The group of three turned their heads in surprise to the lemur habitat before looking back at each other, all three of them wondering the same thing: what was going on over there?

A little later, Maurice, Marlene and Mort arrived back at the lemur habitat to find out just what it was that Julien and Julia were up to. As the three landed safely on the ground after jumping over the wall, Maurice was the first to speak up. "King Julien, Queen Julia, what is it you're doing that's so important that you had to leave in the middle of…" As the three walked over to have a closer see for themselves, Maurice's voice slowly trailed off before he stopped completely in the middle of his question and his mouth simply hung open in disbelief at the sight around him: the habitat looked completely different from how he usually viewed it. Up on the wall was a large leaf banner and there was writing with pink petals on it that said 'WELCOME, MARLENE!'. Not only that, but there was also a table set up with several bowls set up on it with various snacks in them such as berries, chopped up fruit and one bowl that had fish inside it, a large disco ball hung on the ceiling of the bouncy that was spinning and sending varied coloured lights illuminating the habitat as well as the boom box playing loud dance music beside the two thrones. There was nothing but silence before Maurice finally found his voice. "Woah…" he could only mutter, staring at the sight in amazement.

Marlene seemed to feel the same way as him as she could only slowly nod in agreement. "You're telling me… What is all this?" Her answer came quicker than she was expecting as she, Maurice and Mort could suddenly hear the sound of hearty laughter and they turned their heads up to see the source: standing up on the granite platform where their thrones could be located were Julien and Julia.

"Maurice! Marlene! So glad you could make it!" Julien called, while Julia happily waved to them with earmuffs placed over her ears; she was wearing them just for tonight, no thanks to her sensitive hearing stopping her from listening to the music. The two then leapt off the platform and landed on the ground in front of the other three before Julien continued. "How are you liking the work we put into making this housewarming party?" he asked, gesturing his arms to the direction of the whole display. Maurice and Marlene turned their glances to have a look at the complete sight, while Mort was the first to express his opinion on it.

"It looks wonderful!" Mort exclaimed, clasping his paws together with a big smile. Marlene then turned her head back to the pair as there was still something she was wondering about.

"How did you find the time to put all this together?" she asked. Julia lifted her paws up to her earmuffs before pulling them off to answer Marlene's question, even if it meant she could hear the music now.

"Believe it or not, this was actually my idea! I thought maybe we could do something special to give you a proper welcome to the zoo, Marlene, and what's more special than a welcoming party? Naturally, Julien was completely on board with the idea." Julia explained, turning her head to Julien with a smile of amusement. Julien simply showed a big grin before wrapping his arms around Julia, while she was taken aback for a few moments before her smile returned and she placed her paws on top of his arms in response.

"Well, of course! Why would I not say yes to the idea of throwing a party, especially for an occasion as exciting at this?" Julien happily asked. As Julia let out a cheerful giggle at this comment, Julien turned his head to the pair as there was something he had just remembered. "But before we get to all the fun, how about we enjoy some delicious treats?" he suggested. With this, he let go of Julia and the two started to make their way over to the food table they had set up, with Maurice, Marlene and Mort following behind them. Once they got to where the table had been set up, the three stared at the amount of good that had been prepared.

"Wow… look at all this food!" Marlene commented, scanning the bowls in awe to see the various kinds of food that had been set up for each of them. Julia happily nodded in agreement, while Julien felt an eager smile show on his face, as he was looking forward to sharing this with them.

"I know, right? We made sure to get everything for this. We've got berries, fruit, dips and just for you, Marlene, we have a special bowl of fish served." Julia agreed, gesturing a paw over to the bowls in question as she was listing what was being served. She then turned her head to Julien as he finally spoke up.

"And it's all been prepared by yours truly." Julien stated, placing a paw on his chest to indicate that he was the one who set up all the food for this party. Maurice felt an expression of shock cross his face as soon as he heard this, while Marlene felt her smile grow quickly.

"Well, I guess that means we're not short on anything!" Marlene commented. While she reached over to grab a berry and try it for herself and Julia nodded in agreement with this statement before doing the same thing, Maurice had his head turned to Julien as he pointed to him in disbelief. "You set all of this up by yourself, Your Majesty?" he asked, just to make sure that his ears weren't playing tricks on him. Julien let out a quiet sigh before nodding in confirmation, placing his paws together as he spoke.

"Indeed, Maurice. I'll fully admit that it wasn't easy to do so, especially with the fish…" Julien turned his eyes up to the approaching night sky, with a grateful smile showing on his face as he continued. "But thanks be to the Sky Spirits that I succeeded. It wasn't a simple feat, but they saw me through to the end." He then closed his eyes and bowed his head to send a silent prayer of thank you. Julia simply placed a paw against her hip with a smile of amusement at this display while Marlene and Maurice could only stare in silence for a few moments before Marlene leaned over to Maurice and placed one hand beside her mouth so only he could hear her, while he turned his head to her in surprise.

"Uh… I have zero idea what he's talking about." Marlene whispered, shaking her head as she had no clue of what had gotten into Julien all of a sudden. Maurice showed a smile of amusement before he placed a paw beside his mouth in turn.

"I'll explain later." Maurice whispered in reply, to which Marlene nodded in understanding. There was silence as the group watched Julien before Julia decided that she should be the one to break it.

"Well then, Julien. If you're done with, umm…" She fell silent for a few moments to think over how to say it without being too rude before she continued. "Showing your gratitude, what do you say we get started with this party?"

As Julien raised his head and opened his eyes once he had finished his prayer and he heard this suggestion, he quickly showed a big grin before nodding in agreement. "Yes! You know exactly what I'm going to say before I am even saying it. Oh, Julia, it's almost like you can read my mind." Julien commented. Julia let out a laugh before shaking her head in amusement, and then she turned her glance to the side as she muttered to herself "Wouldn't be too surprised if that was actually the case…" Luckily for her, this went unheard by Julien as he turned his attention to the rest of the group.

"All right, everyone. Let's get this party underway!" Julien announced. Without a moment to spare, he leapt into the air to climb up to the top platform to turn the boom box on, causing the music to suddenly start playing. Once this was done, Julia made her move to place her noise draining plugs in her ears so they wouldn't get hurt by the near-deafening sound of the music. While this was happening, Maurice and Marlene were starting to help themselves to the food on the table, while Mort suddenly jumped up in the air much to the two's shock.

"Yay! Food time!" Mort exclaimed, before rushing over to grab the bowl full of fruit and start munching on it. While Maurice and Marlene stared in shock, Julia quickly took notice of the mouse lemur before running over and grabbing him away from the bowl.

"Woah, woah, slow down, Mort! Let's not get carried away. We still need to save some for everyone else, you know." Julia said, before lifting Mort up to hold him in her arms. Mort let out an innocent giggle before nodding in understanding. "Sorry." he added.

Meanwhile, Marlene was having a try of the fruit that had been included as she grabbed a small handful of grapes before chewing down on them, with a bright smile showing on her face. "Hey… these are great! It's no wonder you guys like them so much." Marlene commented, turning her head to Maurice before she made her way over to get a few pieces of fish while he nodded in agreement.

"I hear you. We may have only been here for a short while, but when you have nights like this, you start making a new home wherever you go. And it's no different when it comes to great food." Maurice agreed, pulling out a long chair to make himself comfortable while Marlene did the same thing and the two had their attention focused on each other. Just then, the two were met with a surprise as Julien made his way over to where they were.

"Hey, you two! How do you feel for trying one of my personal made smoothies?" Julien suggested. Maurice and Marlene turned their heads to each other in surprise at this suggestion before they hopped off the long chairs to follow Julien towards the small bar. Once they got there, Julien leapt over the front to land inside the counter, while Maurice and Marlene could see that there was a small bowl filled with different kinds of fruit placed on the bench.

"Uh… what's this?" Marlene asked, pointing over at the bowl. Julien showed a confident smile before grabbing it and turning his attention sitting on the bench right next to him.

"These… are my preparations. Set it up right after I was done with putting together the food table." Julien replied. He then reached up to remove the lid from the blender before tipping all the fruit inside it, placing the lid back on and pressing the button to turn the blender on, causing all the fruit to start getting spun around and sliced by the turning gears, effectively turning them into a coloured juice. After a few seconds passed, Julien pressed the button again to turn the blender off and removed the lid before grabbing two plastic cups and pouring a good amount into each, mostly enough to fill them. "So… give it a try and tell me what you think." Julien stated, passing one cup each to Maurice and Marlene.

Maurice was the first to give it a try, with a few moments passing before he showed a huge grin. "Woah… this is amazing, Your Majesty!" he exclaimed. Marlene had a look inside her cup in uncertainty before she gave a small slurp, and then she quickly felt her eyes turn wide in amazement before she nodded in agreement.

"No kidding! I haven't tasted anything like this before!" Marlene agreed. She then turned her head up to Julien as he was showing a smile of excitement that the two liked his smoothie. "Man, first that food table and now this? Is there anything you can't do?" Marlene asked, placing a hand on her hip while she was saying this, since she was being quite impressive by the efficiency Julien was showing.

"A lot of things, actually…" Maurice whispered in reply. Marlene put a hand to her mouth to try and hold in her laughter at this snark. Luckily, this went unnoticed by Julien as he looked up to think.

"When I put my mind to it, probably not. It's not the easiest thing for me to do…" Julien turned his glance up to the night sky and pointed upwards as he continued. "Which is why I'm always thankful when the Sky Spirits point me on the right path."

Marlene could only show an expression of bewilderment; this was the second time now that she had heard Julien make a mention of the Sky Spirits, and now it was becoming something she couldn't ignore. So with this in mind, that was when she started to speak up. "Uh… about that." Julien and Maurice both turned their attention to her in surprise as they were wondering what she had to say. "Is this… um… whole thing kind of a… big deal for you guys?" Maurice was the first to give an answer as he leaned over to her.

"A _huge_ deal. Especially for him." Maurice quietly replied, nudging his head slightly in Julien's direction to point out that he was the main devout in their small group. As Marlene was watching him in surprise at this answer, Julien clasped his hands together in excitement at Marlene's curiosity; if he didn't know any better, it almost sounded like she wanted to know more about it.

"Ooh, so you're interested to know more, are you? Well, lucky for you, I happen to know just where to start. You see…" Before he could have a chance to continue, Marlene raised a paw up to stop him.

"Yeah… gonna have to stop you there. If this is one of those really long stories that lasts the whole night, then I think I'll pass." Marlene bluntly stated before walking off while Julien could only stare in shock and Maurice showed an expression of disappointment.

"Oh, that's a shame. I'm sure you would have really liked to hear it." Maurice commented. He then turned his head with a smile of amusement before cheekily commenting "Good call." He had had a feeling that Marlene wouldn't have wanted to hear that story; the last time he had to listen to it, he wanted to put at least fifty feet of distance between himself and Julien for the next week. However, this amusement quickly disappeared when he saw Julien let out a groan of dismay before placing his head against the bench. Maurice stared in surprise before showing an expression of concern. "What's wrong, Your Majesty?" Maurice gently asked, reaching over to place a paw on Julien's arm. Julien let out a quiet sigh and turned his head up to Maurice, making his expression of dismay visible.

"I don't understand it, Maurice. How is it possible that no one in this zoo wants to know about the Sky Spirits? Why do I feel like I'm the only one here?" Julien groaned. Maurice turned his glance down to think since he knew exactly what Julien meant; the penguins, mainly Skipper, thought that Julien was out of his mind and now Marlene had turned down his offer to tell her more. Needless to say, it seemed that this wasn't making things very easy for Julien with him feeling like he was the only believer while everyone else seemed to scoff at his beliefs. Maurice showed a comforting smile in reply.

"Hey, don't get so worried about it. Don't forget that you've got me, Queen Julia and Mort; we're behind you all the way on this. Besides, there's always gonna be those few that are somewhat sceptical." Maurice gently explained. Julien let out a quiet sigh before slowly nodded in agreement, as if he seemed to realise Maurice was right.

"True that, Maurice. So true that…" Julien sighed, resting his arms against the bench while he said this. Maurice looked down to think about what he could do about this before he showed a big smile and clicked his fingers as he happened to have an idea.

"Hey, I think I know just what could get you out of this funk!" Maurice stated. As Julien turned his head up to his advisor to hear what his idea was, he watched in surprise as Maurice made his way over to where the boom box before placing a paw on the wheel that controlled the volume of the music. "Okay, everyone. It's time for our main act of the night: the dance-a-thon!" Maurice called. With this, he cranked the wheel down, causing the volume to suddenly start shooting upwards and the music to start playing louder.

From where she was standing at the food table, Julia nearly jumped from alarm upon hearing the music before placing her paws over her ears. "AAAHHHH! My ears!" Julia cried; she had nearly forgotten about how she removed her noise drainers as she was helping herself to a few treats.

From where she was, Marlene felt the ground underneath her feet start to shake all of a sudden. "What's going on?! Are we having an earthquake?!" Marlene blurted, trying to make sense of just what was going on now.

At the same time, Julien showed a big smile as he knew exactly where this was heading. "Ha-ha, yes! It's time for dancing!" he cheered. Without a moment to spare, he leapt over the counter of the smoothie bar before rushing to where the bouncy was located. "Come on, everyone! Join in!" Julien called, leaping up onto the bouncy to start dancing. From where she was, Julia arrived after having just placed her noise drainers back in her ears and showed a big smile upon seeing Julien before rushing over to join him.

"Right behind you, Julien!" Julia replied, running over to hop on and start dancing alongside him, with the two grasping each other's arm before they started to dance. Mort was quick to follow suit, having heard the music playing from where he had been.

"Dance time! Yay!" Mort cheered. Without a moment to spare, he jumped up into the air and started to twirl before landing on the surface of the bouncy, being flung up into the air in the process. As Maurice and Marlene made their way over to the dance sense, Maurice showed a big smile before turning around to the otter.

"Come on, Marlene! Let's join in!" Maurice commented. Marlene showed an expression of uncertainty before she started to shake her head.

"I-I don't know. I'm not the greatest dancer…" Before Marlene could continue, Maurice grabbed her by the hand before pulling her along with him while she nearly stumbled from alarm. "Maurice, wait!" Marlene blurted, with her call seemingly falling on deaf ears. The two then stopped right beside the bouncy, with Maurice starting to tap his feet to the music while Marlene watched in surprise. "Wait… aren't we going to join them on the jumping castle, too?" she asked, pointing to the bouncy while Julien, Julia and Mort were having the time of their lives. Maurice turned his head to notice this as well before he looked back at Marlene.

"Who said we had to do what they're doing? We can just do our own dancing too. Just follow my lead." Maurice replied, holding both his hands out for Marlene to take. Marlene stared in uncertainty for a few moments before she reached over to place her hands in his, and with this, he started to pull her close to him so she could follow what she was doing. Marlene stared up at Maurice in silence to see the grin he was showing her and she couldn't help but smile back before she started to tap her feet in the same rhythm as he was. Once she noticed this, Marlene quickly felt her smile grow bigger in size.

"Hey, you were right, Maurice. This is fun!" Marlene called. Maurice showed a big grin in response before he started to spin Marlene rapidly in a circle, before she let out a cry of surprise as she did so, before he stopped her and pulled her backwards to catch her in his arm. Marlene stared in shock upon seeing this before she lifted her head up to see Maurice staring down at her with that big smile and his gold and amber coloured eyes shining down on her. Seeing this, Marlene couldn't help but let a shy chuckle; it was safe to say that this was probably the best welcome she could have ever had.

And the best part of it was that she had Maurice and the other lemurs to thank for it; for helping her feel right at home.


	5. As Night Falls

**New Arrival**

 **Chapter 5: As Night Falls**

A few hours had passed after the life of the party in the lemur habitat was starting to die down; the music had been turned down and the group were starting to clean up from the fun night they had just had. For the rest of the zoo, this was a huge relief since it meant they could finally get some peace and quiet and have a goodnight's sleep so they would be ready for the next morning. While Julien, Julia and Mort were busy putting everything away and cleaning up through the habitat, Maurice had offered to walk Marlene back to her habitat so she could have a pleasant sleep after all the fun she had had. As the two were making their way towards the Otter Habitat, Marlene let out a cheer as she had her arms up in the air. "Whoo! What a party that was! I almost wanted it to never end." Marlene cheered, as she was still doing a few twirls as she was walking. Maurice turned his glance to her upon noticing this and let out a chuckle before showing a smile of amusement.

"Believe me, Marlene, you do not want one of those for a few nights in a row. I should know; I've been in that place more times than I want to count." Maurice commented. Marlene let out a laugh at this before she turned her head to him as she was ready to continue.

"You know, Maurice, this is probably the best welcome I could have ever gotten. You guys really know how to have fun around here." Marlene commented, showing a big smile as she still had the memory of how this day had turned out fresh in her mind; she hadn't expected to receive a welcome as fun and eventful as this, but it was safe to say that was exactly what she had gotten despite the shock it had been to her system. Maurice let out a chuckle to himself before he nodded in agreement with that last statement.

"Yeah, we sure do. Believe me, if there's one thing we know how to do, it's that. There's just never a dull moment with us." Maurice replied. He was then met with a surprise as Marlene reached over to place her paws around his arm and he turned his head to see that she was showing him a bright smile, with her eyes seeming to shine as brightly as gemstones before him.

"Maurice… thanks for offering to walk me back to my habitat. I've really had a great time spending today with you. You and the others; you've given me the best welcome I could ever want." Marlene gently explained, the tone of her voice making it completely just how sincere her statement was. Maurice stared in stunned silence for a few moments before he showed a bright smile in return.

"You're welcome, Marlene. We wanted to do everything we could to help you feel at home here, and I'm glad to hear that we pulled it off. And… I hope we can get to spend more time together like this." Maurice nervously replied, with his voice dropping in volume during this last statement; it was safe to say that he was starting to feel quite shy around Marlene, especially since it was just the two of them enjoying a walk through the zoo with the stars in the night sky shining over their heads as they were walking side by side. Marlene turned her head up to think over that offer for a few moments before she nodded in agreement.

"That sounds like a great idea to me." Marlene simply replied. Maurice felt his smile grow larger in size upon hearing that Marlene had accepted his offer for them to spend more time together, so with this, the two turned their attention back to the path in front of them so they could continue their trek back to the Otter Habitat. Little did they realise that as they were walking, up in the night sky, a small streak of starlight happened to fly over their heads.

After a few more moments of walking, the pair managed to find themselves standing in front of the entrance of the small cave, Marlene's new home. "Well, we're here." Maurice commented; they had finally arrived back at the cave just as they were aiming for. Marlene let out a yawn before she stretched her arms up in the air before turning her head over to Maurice while he watched her.

"I don't know about you, Maurice, but I could use a goodnight's sleep after the day I've had today. I get the feeling I'm not going to be out of my cave for a while tomorrow morning." Marlene commented. Maurice felt a smile of amusement cross his face as he started to chuckle at Marlene's bit of snark before he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, same here. King Julien's parties will do that to you." Maurice agreed. Marlene couldn't help herself chuckling back at his reply before she turned around to face him while he kept his eyes on her.

"Well… goodnight." Marlene said. She then turned around and started to make her way inside the cave so she could turn in for a night and have a nice sleep-in; she had a feeling that she would need it after joining in on that party. As Maurice watched her step inside, he turned his head down with an expression of uncertainty as he was starting to wonder if he should go through with this; he had something he wanted to give Marlene before the day was over, and if there was a chance for him to do it, it had to be before she went to sleep. So with this in mind, Maurice nodded in confirmation before turning his head up to her as she was still walking.

"M-Marlene?" Maurice asked. Marlene stopped in her tracks at the sound of Maurice's voice and turned around to see him walking up to her with his arms behind his back; from the looks of it, it seemed like he had something he wanted to give her, but she wasn't sure of what it could be. "You know how I went to find you those flowers for your place at the park?" Maurice asked. Marlene simply nodded in confirmation before showing an expression of puzzlement.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Marlene asked, crossing her arms as she was starting to wonder what Maurice was up to. Maurice was silent for a few moments before he showed a bright smile, feeling ready to show Marlene what he wanted to give her.

"Well… I saved a special one for you." Maurice stated, before removing his arms from behind his back to show that he was holding a flower in his hands; it was a lovely rose, with the same bright pink coloured petals as the ones that were on her welcome banner. Marlene could only stare in amazement before she slowly reached over to take the flower from Maurice to have a closer look at it. As he was awaiting her response, Maurice hid his hands behind his back again as he started to speak up. "I wanted to give you that earlier, but I kind of forgot about it between everything with the party and all that. But then I figured that now was a good time to give you it before we had to go to bed. Think of it as my special welcome gift, a little something from me… to you." Maurice quietly explained.

Marlene stared at the flower in amazement for a few moments before she turned her head to Maurice, with the biggest smile he had ever seen from her all day showing on her face. "Wow, Maurice… Thanks so much. I love it. I'll make sure I keep it somewhere special in my new home." Marlene replied. She then took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Maurice, while he could only stare in stunned silence for a few moments before he felt a big smile cross his face and he placed his arms around her in return, not wanting to ever let go of her.

"Thanks, Marlene. I'm glad you liked it." Maurice replied. After a few seconds passed, Marlene let go of him before leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek, to which Maurice could only stare with his eyes wide in amazement as he was trying to let what just happened sink in. As it was happening, Marlene let out a giggle before she started to turn around while keeping her glance to him.

"Goodnight, Maurice. I'll come visit tomorrow morning." Marlene stated. She then started to make her way inside the cave, while Maurice remained there in mixed disbelief and amazement at what had just happened: Marlene had kissed him on the cheek. It may not have seemed like much, but to Maurice, it was as if a burning feeling had been lit up inside him and he loved every moment of it. After a few more seconds passed, Maurice showed a big grin before letting out a dreamy sigh.

"Now that was the best thank you I've ever gotten…" Maurice could only say. With this, he started to slowly make his way back over to the Lemur Habitat where he was certain Julien, Julia and Mort were waiting for him and wanting to know about what just happened.

Little did he realise that he didn't need to tell them, because sitting on top of the wall having seen everything were Julien, Julia and Mort. The three could only stare in dumbfounded shock for a few moments before Julia slowly turned her head to Julien as he had his mouth dropped open from stunned shock. "Did you see that, Julien?" Julia quietly asked, a big smile slowly starting to cross her face. Julien was dead silent before he could only slowly nod in confirmation.

"Yes I did, Julia. And I have only one thing to say about this." Julien stated, with a firm expression starting to show on his face. Julia kept her attention to him in concern as she was starting to wonder what he had to say about it, before she was met with him showing a big smile as he said his next statement. "Our Maurice… is in love."

Julia's expression of concern quickly faded away and was replaced with a big smile as she clasped her paws in excited joy. "You bet he has! I was wondering when it would happen, but now it finally has. It looks like… Maurice has finally found the one to be with, even if they don't realise it for now." Julia happily agreed. Julien simply nodded in agreement, before reaching over to place an arm around Julia while she turned her head to him as they brightly smiled at each other.

"Mmm-hmm. There's only one way to describe this: he's come face to face with his fitiavana." Julien softly agreed. Julia felt her smile quickly grow as she could tell exactly what he was saying. However, Mort turned his head to the two with an expression of confusion.

"Maurice has a frittata?" Mort questioned, tilting his head in confusion. Julien and Julia both turned their heads to him in bewilderment before looking back at each other with only one thought circulating in their heads, and they were both the same thing: they had to get Mort back on those Malagasy lessons.


End file.
